The Oasis Project

Combining 21st century skills development, community service and wellbeing outcomes

The Oasis Project supports teachers by providing relevant and engaging content and tools for youth homelessness education.

Built to supercharge the impact of the Oasis Films, the Project was co-designed with teachers, schools and young people with a lived experience of homelessness.

Schools are often at the front line of support for young people. And with homelessness among 12–24 year olds increasing almost 10% in the past 5 years, now more than ever, they need renewed support and new ways to respond to youth homelessness.

Update: COVID-19 has brought uncertainty to our lives and the way we teach, connect and access services. The Oasis films and project resources have great lessons in resilience and strength in the face of adversity.

The Oasis Project was designed with online delivery in mind and can easily be rolled out for remote learning. In support of teachers and school communities, our in person programs such as our co-design workshops are also being redeveloped for online delivery and will be available shortly.

We hope your families and you are safe and well. Please do reach out if your school requires additional support.

GET INVOLVED

Benefits

Lesson plans and resources easily integrated into the Australian curriculum, mapped to required student outcomes

Developed with teachers, principals, wellbeing staff and students in public, private and independent schools alongside young people with a lived experience of homelessness (see our co-design partners below)

Fully resourced and planned, getting teachers back to what they do best, teaching

Designed to be well-rounded, with entgaging content and stories

A different way of learning, using a peer-to-peer approach to build empathy and foster positive student relationships

Logos: Victorian School Building Authority | Castlemaine Secondary College | Etltham College | Hoxton Park High | The Hester Hornsbrook Academy | The Pavilion School | Preshil School | Bialik College

Get involved

Here’s how you can get involved in the Oasis Project.

1.

Watch the Oasis Films

In 2008, the feature documentary, The Oasis, shocked Australia with its gritty insight into the lives of homeless teens at a notorious youth refuge in inner-city Sydney. A decade later, with social inequality and homelessness worse than ever, the original participants reveal where their lives have taken them in Life After the Oasis.

WATCH NOW

2.

The Oasis films lesson plans

(Opens in new window to Cool Australia website)
Linked to the Oasis Films and designed to integrate with Year 9 and 10 Australian Curriculum content descriptors, these resources maximise both enterprise skill development and community service curriculum requirements, all while aiming to strengthen at-risk students’ wellbeing outcomes.

GO TO LESSONS

3.

The Oasis Schools Action Kit

Tools to supercharge the Oasis films and engage your students to take real world action for youth homelessness in your local community. Includes ideas for making an impact with interactive step-by-step activity guides and additional stories and content to use in the classroom.

ACTION KIT

4.

Digital workshops and presentations

We’re offering schools a FREE digital workshop series where your students will learn about co-design and design solutions to prevent and reduce youth homelessness, guided by an expert facilitation team of young people with a lived experience of homelessness and educators. Join our waiting list now to be among the first schools in Australia to be a part of it.

EXRESS INTEREST

Mapping the impact

Our aim is to support every school and every community across Australia with the tools and resources to combat youth homelessness. Here’s where we are already…

The team

The Oasis Project was developed by YLab, in partnership with Shark Island Productions and supported by the Caledonia Foundation.

YLab is a social enterprise that brings young people with diverse lived experience and experts together to tackle society’s most complex challenges. Founded in 2016 by the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), YLab provides a platform for the unlike-minded to come together and bring co-design and systems thinking approaches to shape the future.